Did Apple Back-Pedal Because of Taylor Swift?

Apple will now pay artists royalties due them during the three free months trial period.  (The Next Web).  And this was in direct response to Taylor Swift's open complaint about Apple's previous policy of not paying artists royalties during the three months free trial.

It's great PR.  At least, some might think that.  For Apple, this is not about money.  However, it does speak to how Apple can maneuver more quickly under Tim Cook.  It also says that Apple feels at ease in bending some rules or doing away with them when it feels it will not have adverse affect on the company's bottom line.  This u-turn certain won't hurt Apple's image.

To be sure, this will have a long-term implication in the music industry.  See, there was mention that Apple would pay the artists during the free trial period.  No mention whether the labels would get a penny.  Perhaps, this was Apple's move all long.  Playing a couple of moves ahead of everyone else.  

Perhaps now, Swift's music will not be a part of Apple Music's streaming service while it continues to be absent from Spotify and others' music library.

Rumored Apple Watch Features - Only New Health Related Ones Would Set AW2 Up For Success

There were a flurry of Apple Watch rumors for the next version that will come out in 2016.  It was a lot for people to chew on and it gave holdouts reason to cheer that they made the right decision to wait and not get the current one.  However, FaceTime calling would be great but there was no mention of new health related features.  And I think continuing focus on health would be a bigger seller than the othe rumored features.

Consider that the current Apple Watch is paid beta as all first generation products are, and not just those from Apple, it good to see it so embraced and loved by its wearers.  And the heart rate monitor is nice, it is still not enough.  Apple Watch's heart rate feature is a "me, too" feature that the Apple Watch absolutely must have given that most of its competitors have it and so do quite a few exercise monitoring bands. 

A couple of interesting features would be helpful to have that can catapult the Apple Watch further.  Obviously, being able to monitor blood pressure is a must have.  This was a rumored feature that many thought would be available on this current Apple Watch.  I had not expected that to happen only because of how I know what it would entail and it was just unlikely Apple could have something like that working out the door.  If anyone could do it, it would have been Apple.  I had given that a less than 50% chance of happening.

As for Apple Watch 2 with blood pressure monitoring?  Hey, this is Apple we're talking about here. 

Right now, we can gather tempature and climate conditions on the Apple Watch from apps pushing such data to the watch. But imagine if we can get that information directly on the watch without the need to pull it from apps on the iPhone.  Temperature, humidty, pressure, UV Index, and other helpful data that can potentially help you determine how much water you need, whether you need to stay out of the sun, and other health-related activities. 

I would love to have both features on the next Apple Watch but only the latter is likely to happen given the technical constraints.  However, you do see what I am talking about. New health-related features would be more helpful than FaceTime calling,

Note: It's likely FaceTime audio is merely a software issue rather than a hardware one.  It's not known whether Apple is even considering actual FaceTime video calling beyond experimenting with it in its highly secretive and secured labs.

Major Security Flaw in iOS

Apple has left a major security hole in iOS and because of its dubious app approval system, malicious apps can potentially roam about the iDevices and steal passwords stored on Keychain and personal information (Source:  The Register).  Only yesterday, we were talking about Samsung's own security problem with its flawed digital signing.  Now, it's Apple's turn.

As of this moment, there is no word whether a fix is forthcoming.  And given the seriousness of this flaw, it's better that Apple address this as soon as possible.  What has made this flaw worse is that it gives malware the ability to circumvent Apple's sandboxing between apps and let it steal information from other apps.

This flaw was discovered six months ago and no word from Apple.  Either it does not take this seriously or that it has yet to find a solution.  Both scenarios are worrying for the average mobile warrior.

Privacy: DDG Attributes 600% Growth to Apple and Privacy Concerns

Source:  9to5Mac.

An interview with DuckDuckGo CEO, Gabe Weinberg, revealed how DuckDuckGo has made money without going to the extent Google and other companies that rely on ad revenues in which they collect information on their users.  They attribute their 3 billion searches a year growth on being part of Apple's library of search engines to choose from and concerns over various governments' big brother aspirations and privacy concerns.

Okay, specifically, the NSA was mentioned but, really, what government would not want the kinds and amounts of information the US government currently collects on us.  Granted that while I'm not concern about any malicious intents of the authorities (yet) and I genuinely believe that some believe they need the information to combat terrorism and other crimes, it does concern me at times.

So Duckduckgo is my default search engine but I'm more concern about what companies do with my information than just the NSA storing it in its databases.  Nevertheless, we all want to keep our eyes open no matter who or what wants to erode our sense of privacy.

Wearable Tech: Samsung Gear S With Two Day Battery Life, That's What Others Should Shoot For In The Next Year

Source:  Engadget.

Regardless of how you feel about Android, Google, Samsung, or how the whole smartwatch and other wearable tech is headed, we are still much earlier in wearable computing devices than ever before.  An equivalent situation would be as if we are in the beginning days of mobile, as in the early PDA days.  But what I have to say about Samsung's Gear S battery life is a good start.

Right now, even Apple's watch can barely hit 20 hours of light use.  And that's a stretch.  And it's coming someone who has one on his wrist as he pounds out this post.  The Engadget post is a worthy read.

I am hoping Apple, Motorola, LG, and the up-and-coming Chinese companies shoot for - at least a couple of days.

But don't think I'll be happy with just that.  I've been using various workout bands.  Jawbone Up, Nike Fuelband, and the Fitbit Force and Charge.  So, I'm very used to week long battery life.  That's what I want from these tech giants.

Great News: Online Video To Surprise Physical Sales and Rentals

Source:  Engadget, Bloomberg.

You want to know what disruption is like on a huge earthquakesque style?  Revenue from downloads like iTunes and Google Play and streaming services like Netflix and Amazon will surpass sales generated from DVD sales and rentals.  You can be sure the studios as well as any stores, brick-and-mortars or online stores, knew this was coming.   Perhaps, they did not think it would happen this fast.

Only in the last year have I noticed significantly more dicounts and bundles of online movies.  It's typical for Google to offer discounts on select movies but hardly on iTunes. And this year, I'm noticing more price cuts.  I'm guess DVD sales have slowed an Blu-ray has not delivered the content developers and studios to the promised land.

This is significant as we should see more parity in terms of prices and offerings between online versions and physical versions of movies and televison shows.  This will be in part to draw attention to the ease of downloading or streaming videos and not having to go to the stores to pick up a movie or wait for the UPS guy to deliver it. 

To make matters worse, or better depending on who you are, online revenue will also surprise box-office takes by 2017.  This is also signficant largely because skyrocketing prices of movie tickets.  Consider that a ticket will probably cost $15 each, or $20 (maybe more) if you watch it in IMAX or 3D, versus waiting a few months, sometimes weeks, to download and own it and watch it in the comfort of your home entertainment studio for about the same price. 

Does this mean we will be able to watch the next Avengers movie with family and friends on your 80" 4K setup?  Not even close.  The studios will have some foks with really good spreadsheet kung fu who will figure out how best for the studios to maximize their profits in light of tech changes and social movie watching behaviors.  It's possible some movies will be available for streaming or purchase the day it hits the theater.  I've often seen indie movies go that route.  This is especially true if there are limited releases. 

However, we never want to say never.  Let's just the studios will listen to their Silicon Valley partners and understand that the best way for us to part with our money is value and convenience. 

Showtime Follows HBO On Apple's Platform

Source: Variety.

So, CBS will be bringing its premium channel to Apple's platform as an exclusive for a short while.  No word on how long that window will be.  I'm sure with HBO's exclusive with Apple coming to an end, Android devices will soon be able to venture into Westero (Game of Thrones - HBO site) soon.

This is just another step forward in breaking the old TV model and venturing into the future of video entertainment.  Note that this is only a very small step.  It will be a while before Silicon Valley giants like Apple, Google, and maybe the social networks can wrestle control of video content away from entrenched and well funded cable companies with a lot of influence in Washington and state capitals. 

No work on when Apple and Showtime's exclusive deal will end.  I do have an Apple TV and I look forward to watching Homeland (official website).

Apple is currently working on deals with content providers to offer a subscription service to its customers.  Meanwhile, Google isn't standing ildly by.  Google is also putting together a package via Youtube (Bloomberg).

Take this a step further, it is not out of the realm of possibility that traditional tech and social media giants like Apple, Microsoft, Google, and Facebook could also get into the content creation business.  Microsoft already dipped its toe with TV show development.

Look for more to come.   Future has started.